Michael Tenenbaum
"We should all live in peace."
Name at birth
Moshe Tenenbaum
Date of birth
06/22/1928
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Moved to Odessa at 6 years old
Name of father, occupation
Mordechai Tenebaum,
Factory worker
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Adelia Yasihovskaya,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents - Mordechai and Adelia, older brother David, Michael and younger sister Rosa
Who survived the Holocaust?
Whole family survived by moving East in Russia
- Growing up Michael's family practiced Judaism freely in Odessa. They went to synagogue and celebrated holidays. He said there was no antisemitism that he remembers.
- The war started on Michael's 13th birthday. His father and brother joined the Russian Army to fight the Nazis. When the Nazis came into their city, Michael's family moved east of Odessa. As the Nazis got closer, they moved to Uzbekistan. Michael went to school at night and worked in a factory during the day to help support the family. This was a factory that produced wine and was converted to a military factory. There was a shortage of workers so Michael did many jobs in the factory. At that time he only had an eighth grade education. In 1944, Michael got a medal for working in the factory during wartime. When the war was over in 1945, his father came back from the front and the family moved back to Odessa. Michael's older brother also returned to Odessa not expecting to find any of the family alive as 60,000 Jews were killed from Odessa. In 1947, Michael graduated high school and was accepted to medical school with the help of his uncles as it was very difficult for Jews to get accepted to medical school. Michael moved to Moldova where he lived with family and went to medical school. Michael graduated medical school in 1949 and he was sent to a rural area to practice on the border of Romania and Moldova - Bara Mare - where he stayed for two years and practiced general medicine. He stated that the Jewish doctors were sent to rural areas and the non-Jewish doctors were given better positions in bigger cities. After the two years when Michael decided to specialize in ENT, he went to Kishinev for further schooling. Michael met his wife on a train and they married in 1954. She was supposed to work in finance but did not get the position and she returned to Kishinev. They had two sons, Sasha and Marik. Michael and his wife lived in the same city with their sons for 10 years. Then his wife, Galina got a better job and moved to the capital of Moldova with the children leaving Michael to practice medicine in the small village.
- In 1991, the citizens of Moldova were told they could only speak in Moldovan and rather than learning another language, they decided to immigrate to Israel where Michael's sister, Rosa, had moved to. He was able to practice medicine in Israel and he worked for 10 years as a physician. They were very happy in Israel. They left Russia while it was still easy to leave and they were able to bring their belongings with them. Michael had been taking Hebrew classes in Russia and when they got to Israel, within four months, he was able to start working. They lived in Rehovot and had a very good life there he related. Their sons had moved to the States and they wanted to live near them. So, Michael and Galina left Israel and moved to Detroit in 2001. Michael did not practice medicine in the States.
Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?
East of Odessa, Uzbekistan
When did you come to the United States?
Family stayed in Russia until 1991 and then moved to Israel. Came to United States in 2001 because sons were in the United States
Where did you settle?
Detroit, Michigan
How is it that you came to Michigan?
One son lived in Michigan.
Occupation after the war
Medical doctor with specialty in Ears, Nose and Throat.
When and where were you married?
Married in Russia in 1954
Spouse
Galina Yasihovskaya,
Finance business
Children
Alex (Tatyana) Tenenboym and Mark (Svetlana) Tenenboym
Grandchildren
One grandson - Dennis
What do you think helped you to survive?
Being told by the military to move East of Odessa.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
We should all live in peace.
Interviewer:
Dr. Charles Silow
Interview date:
03/26/2026
